“Be easy, Amélie, I am here,” he said. It did not occur to him that his sister might be anxious for any one but him.
Amélie darted5 from her room in her night-dress. It was easy to see from her pallor and the dark circles which spread nearly to the middle of her cheeks that she had not closed her eyes all night.
“Has nothing happened to you, Roland?” she cried, clasping her brother in her arms and feeling him over anxiously.
“Nothing.”
“Nor to any one else?”
“No.”
“And you saw nothing?”
“I didn’t say that,” answered Roland.
“Good God! What did you see?”
“I’ll tell that to you later. Meantime, there is no one either killed or wounded.”
“Ah! I breathe again!”
“Now, let me give you a bit of advice, little sister. Go to bed and sleep, if you can, till breakfast. I am going to do the same thing, and can assure you I won’t need any rocking. Good-night, or rather good-morning.”
Roland kissed his sister tenderly. Then affecting to whistle a hunting-air carelessly, he ran up the next flight of steps. Sir John was frankly6 waiting for him in the hall. He went straight to the young man.
“Well?” he asked.
“Did you see any ghosts?”
“At any rate I saw something that resembled one very closely.”
“Come, tell me all about it.”
“I see you won’t be able to sleep, or at best only fitfully, if I don’t. Here’s what happened, in a nutshell.”
And Roland gave him a minute account of the night’s adventure.
“Excellent,” said Sir John, when Roland had finished. “I hope you have left something for me to do.”
“I am even afraid,” answered Roland, “that I have left you the hardest part.”
Then, as Sir John went over each detail, asking many questions about the localities, he said:
“Listen, Sir John. We will pay the Chartreuse a visit in broad daylight after breakfast, which will not interfere8 in the least with your night-watch. On the contrary, it will acquaint you with the localities. Only you must tell no one.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Sir John, “do I look like a gabbler?”
“No, that’s true,” cried Roland laughing, “you are not a gabbler, but I am a ninny.” So saying, he entered his bedchamber.
After breakfast the two young men sauntered down the slopes of the garden, as if to take a walk along the banks of the Reissouse. Then they bore to the left, swung up the hill for about forty paces, struck into the highroad, and crossed the woods, till they reached the convent wall at the very place where Roland had climbed over it on the preceding night.
“My lord,” said Roland, “this is the way.”
“Very well,” replied Sir John, “let us take it.”
Slowly, with a wonderful strength of wrist, which betokened9 a man well trained in gymnastics, the Englishman seized the coping of the wall, swung himself to the top, and dropped down on the other side. Roland followed with the rapidity of one who is not achieving a feat10 for the first time. They were both on the other side, where the desertion and desolation were more visible by night than by day. The grass was growing knee high in the paths; the espaliers were tangled11 with vines so thick that the grapes could not ripen12 in the shadow of the leaves. The wall had given way in several places, and ivy13, the parasite14 rather than the friend of ruins, was spreading everywhere.
As for the trees in the open space, plums, peaches and apricots, they had grown with the freedom of the oaks and beeches15 in the forest, whose breadth and thickness they seemed to envy. The sap, completely absorbed by the branches which were many and vigorous, produced but little fruit, and that imperfect. By the rustle16 of the tall grass, Sir John and Roland divined that the lizards17, those crawling offsprings of solitude18, had established their domicile there, from which they fled in amazement19 at this disturbance20.
Roland led his friend straight to the door between the orchard21 and the cloister22, but before entering he glanced at the clock. That clock, which went at night, was stopped in the day time. From the cloister he passed into the refectory. There the daylight showed under their true aspect the various objects which the darkness had clothed with such fantastic forms the night before. Roland showed Sir John the overturned stools, the table marked by the blow of the pistol, the door by which the phantom23 had entered. Accompanied by the Englishman, he followed the path he had taken in pursuit of the spectre. He recognized the obstacles which had hindered him, and noted24 how easily one who knew the locality might cross or avoid them.
At the spot where he had fired, he found the wad, but he looked in vain for the bullet. The arrangement of the passage, which ran slanting25, made it impossible for the bullet, if its marks were not on the walls, to have missed the ghost. And yet if the ghost were hit, supposing it to be a solid body, how came it to remain erect26? How had it escaped being wounded, and if wounded, why were there no bloodstains on the ground? And there was no trace of either blood or ball.
Sir John was almost ready to admit that his friend had had to do with a veritable ghost.
“Some one came after me,” said Roland, “and picked up the ball.”
“But if you fired at a man, why didn’t the ball go into him?”
That was possible, but, nevertheless, Sir John shook his head dubiously28. He preferred to believe in a supernatural occurrence; it gave him less trouble.
Roland and he continued their investigations29. They reached the end of the passage which opened on the furthest extremity30 of the orchard. It was there that Roland had seen his spectre for an instant as it glided31 into the dark vault32. He made for the cistern33, and so little did he hesitate that he might still have been following the ghost. There he understood how the darkness of the night had seemed to deepen by the absence of all exterior34 reflection. It was even difficult to see there by day.
Roland took two torches about a foot long from beneath his cloak, took a flint, lighted the tinder, and a match from the tinder. Both torches flared35 up.
The problem was now to discover the way by which the ghost had disappeared. Roland and Sir John lowered their torches and examined the ground. The cistern was paved with large squares of limestone36, which seemed to fit perfectly37. Roland looked for his second ball as persistently38 as for the first. A stone lay loose at his feet, and, pushing it aside, he disclosed an iron ring screwed into one of the limestone blocks.
Without a word Roland seized the ring, braced39 his feet and pulled. The square turned on its pivot40 with an ease which proved that it was frequently subjected to the same manipulation. As it turned, it disclosed a subterranean41 passage.
“Ah!” exclaimed Roland, “this is the way my spectre went.”
He entered the yawning cavern42, followed by Sir John. They traversed the same path that Morgan took when he returned to give an account of his expedition. At the end of the passage they came upon an iron gate opening into the mortuary vaults43. Roland shook the gate, which yielded to his touch. They crossed this subterranean cemetery44, and came to a second gate; like the first, it was open. With Roland still in front, they went up several steps, and found themselves in the choir45 of the chapel46, where the scene we have related between Morgan and the Company of Jehu took place. Only now the stalls were empty, the choir was deserted47, and the altar, degraded by the abandonment of worship, was no longer covered by the burning tapers48 or the sacred cloth.
It was evident to Roland that this was the goal of the false ghost, which Sir John persisted in believing a real one. But, real or false, Sir John admitted that its flight had brought it to this particular spot. He reflected a moment and then remarked: “As it is my turn to watch tonight, I have the right to choose my ground; I shall watch here.”
And he pointed50 to a sort of table formed in the centre of the choir by an oaken pedestal which had formerly51 supported the eagle lectern.
“Indeed,” said Roland, with the same heedlessness he showed in his own affairs, “you’ll do very well there, only as you may find the gates locked and the stone fastened tonight, we had better look for some more direct way to get here.”
In less than five minutes they had found an outlet52. The door of the old sacristy opened into the choir, and from the sacristy a broken window gave passage into the forest. The two men climbed through the window and found themselves in the forest thicket53 some twenty feet from the spot where they had killed the boar.
“That’s what we want,” said Roland; “only, my dear Sir John, as you would never find your way by night in a forest which, even by day, is so impenetrable, I shall accompany you as far as this.”
“Very well. But once I am inside, you are to leave me,” said the Englishman. “I remember what you told me about the susceptibility of ghosts. If they know you are near, they may hesitate to appear, and as you have seen one, I insist on seeing at least one myself.”
“I’ll leave you, don’t be afraid,” replied Roland, adding, with a laugh, “Only I do fear one thing.”
“What is that?”
“That in your double capacity of an Englishman and a heretic they won’t feel at ease with you.”
“Oh,” replied Sir John, gravely, “what a pity I shall not have time to abjure54 before this evening.”
The two friends, having seen all there was to see, returned to the chateau55. No one, not even Amélie, had suspected that their walk was other than an ordinary one. The day passed without questions and without apparent anxiety; besides, it was already late when the two gentlemen returned.
At dinner, to Edouard’s great delight, another hunt was proposed, and it furnished a topic for conversation during dinner and part of the evening. By ten o’clock, as usual, all had retired56 to their rooms, except Roland, who was in that of Sir John.
The difference of character showed itself markedly in the preparations of the two men. Roland had made them joyously57, as if for a pleasure trip; Sir John made his gravely, as if for a duel58. He loaded his pistols with the utmost care and put them into his belt English fashion. And, instead of a cloak, which might have impeded59 his movements, he wore a top-coat with a high collar put on over his other coat.
At half-past ten the pair left the house with the same precautions that Roland had observed when alone. It was five minutes before eleven when they reached the broken window, where the fallen stones served as a stepping-block. There, according to agreement, they were to part. Sir John, reminded Roland of this agreement.
“Yes,” said Roland, “an agreement is an agreement with me. Only, let me give you a piece of advice.”
“What is it?”
“I could not find the bullets because some one had been here and carried them off; and that was done beyond doubt to prevent me from seeing the dents60 on them.”
“Those of the links of a coat of mail; my ghost was a man in armor.”
“That’s too bad!” said Sir John; “I hoped for a ghost.” Then, after a moment’s silence and a sigh expressive61 of his deep regret in resigning the ghost, he asked: “What was your advice?”
“Fire at his face!”
Sir John nodded assent62, pressed the young officer’s hand, clambered through the window and disappeared in the sacristy.
“Good-night!” called Roland after him. Then with the indifference63 to danger which a soldier generally feels for himself and his companions, Roland took his way back to the Château des Noires-Fontaines, as he had promised Sir John.
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1
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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6
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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8
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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11
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12
ripen
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| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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15
beeches
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| n.山毛榉( beech的名词复数 )；山毛榉木材 | |
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16
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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17
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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18
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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21
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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24
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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27
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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29
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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30
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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31
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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32
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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cistern
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| n.贮水池 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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35
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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36
limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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39
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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40
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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41
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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42
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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43
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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44
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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45
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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46
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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47
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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48
tapers
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| （长形物体的）逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 )； 微弱的光； 极细的蜡烛 | |
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49
dent
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| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
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50
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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51
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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52
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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53
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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54
abjure
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| v.发誓放弃 | |
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55
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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56
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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57
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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58
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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59
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
dents
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| n.花边边饰；凹痕( dent的名词复数 )；凹部；减少；削弱v.使产生凹痕( dent的第三人称单数 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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61
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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62
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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63
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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